I can't say that I'm much of an Adam Sandler
fan, but I have to disagree with the critics who dumped on this movie. Despite Sandler's
oft-irritating mannerisms like the highly dreaded baby voice, and despite an
obsession with product placement (the entire film is practically a
Subway commercial), this is actually a funny movie, in fact one of
the funniest of the lowbrow slapstick comedies. Sandler plays a guy whose dream
is to play professional ice hockey, a dream which seems unattainable since he
can't skate very well, can't handle the puck, and has no control over his
emotions. He does have the most powerful shot in the game, but even that has
limited value since it is just as likely to kill a spectator as to land in the
net.

Through the usual bizarre concatenation of circumstances, Sandler
accidentally discovers that he has a natural talent for golf. When he aces a
very long par four in his first round, his mentor thinks he can be molded into a
top pro in a few months, because his earth-shattering power is enough to
overcome many of his physical and emotional liabilities. As the plot
contrivances would have it, Sandler needs money right away to salvage his
childhood home from an IRS auction, so he rejects his coach's sound advice and
opts to play tournaments without any preparation.

This isn't supposed to be an exercise in gritty realism. The pro tour
pictured here bears no resemblance to the real PGA, and the entire plot seems to
take place in Bizarro World. The alleged "tour" is just a gimmick to stage a
mano-a-mano "slobs versus snobs" showdown between Sandler and the snooty,
insincere tour kingpin, who resembles a good looking version of Snidely Whiplash more than
he resembles a real pro
golfer. Sandler, of course, plays an irresponsible slob who wears hockey
jerseys during golf matches, curses more than Cartman, gets into hockey-style fights with other
golfers, throws tantrums on national TV, and gets into a fistfight with Bob
Barker in a celebrity pro-am. (Barker is hilarious in a VERY funny scene in
which he ends up kicking Sandler's ass.)

Predictably, Sandler becomes a working class hero whose galleries look like
the checkout line at K-Mart, and just as predictably, he eventually manages to
save the house his grandpa had built brick-by-brick. The unrealistic and
formulaic elements don't really detract from one's enjoyment of the film. It's
a cute underdog story. The jokes are good. The timing is good. The characters and situations are
funny.

Happy
Gilmore was directed by Dennis Dugan, an unassuming little guy who once had 15 minutes of
unlikely fame in
his own TV series as "Richie Brockelman, Private Eye", and who once reached
the most
majestic heights of TV Olympus as Captain Freedom, possibly the most memorable
and beloved guest star role in the history of Hill Street Blues. Since Happy Gilmore,
he has directed Big Daddy, again starring Sandler, and a pretty funny film
called Saving Silverman, which stars Jack Black.

If you're a Happy Gilmore fan, you'll perk up when you read that the special
edition DVD has twenty minutes of deleted footage. Unfortunately, the footage is
not really all that good. There is some mostly unfunny stuff about granny's nursing home,
and there is a discarded sub-plot revolving around Sandler's homeless caddy,
whose part seems to have been very large at one point, but was whittled down
significantly for the theatrical release. There are also a few minutes of
outtakes, but they are nothing extraordinary.

DVD INFO

First time the film has been issued in
widescreen

Anamorphically enhanced (16x9)

20 minutes of deleted scenes

Several minutes of outtakes

NUDITY REPORT

None, but Julie Bowen shows a lot
of her butt in a fantasy sequence.

The
Critics Vote ...

Super-panel consensus out of four stars: fewer
than two
stars. James Berardinelli 2/4, Roger Ebert 1.5/4.

The meaning of the IMDb
score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of
excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars
from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm
watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars
from the critics. The fives are generally not
worthwhile unless they are really your kind of
material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics,
or a C- from our system.
Films rated below five are generally awful even if you
like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one
and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less,
depending on just how far below five the rating
is.

My own
guideline: A means the movie is so good it
will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not
good enough to win you over if you hate the
genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an
open mind about this type of film. C means it will only
appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover
appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but
will be considered excellent by genre fans, while
C- indicates that it we found it to
be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you
like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if
you love the genre. F means that the film is not only
unappealing across-the-board, but technically
inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for
fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is
recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C-
that often, because we like movies and we think that most of
them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know
that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below
C-.

Based on this description, it's
a C. You may or may not like slapstick and lowbrow humor. It is
an acquired taste. Or maybe it's a natural taste that people try
to un-acquire. I'm not sure. The point is this: if you don't
like that kind of stuff, skip this. If you do, this is one of
the better films of its kind.